Here’s this week’s installment of Five Minute Friday. You might remember the task is to write for five minutes on a specific prompt word. The initiative was started by Lisa-Jo Baker (http://lisajobaker.com/2013/05/five-minute-friday-comfort/) who thought about writing and how often our perfectionism gets in the way of our words. And she figured, why not take five minutes and see what comes out: not a perfect post, not a profound post, just five minutes of focused writing.

This week’s prompt is COMFORT.

So, the timer is set … so here goes. {clock starts now}

I know this is Mother’s Day weekend, and writing about a mother’s comfort is the natural tendency. But I’m taking a different route. My sense of comfort came from my Dad.

Dad wasn’t flowery and huggy. In fact, I can’t remember more than a handful of times when he actually said “I love you” to me or others. Yet, he was my go-to guy when I needed comfort and/or guidance.

I broke my finger during what had been up to that time a successful final Little League season. The injury ended my “career” behind the plate. As we left the doctor’s office with my finger heavily bandaged and in a splint, my eyes welled, not because it hurt, but because my 12 year old world had just crashed and burned. He put his arm around me — an oddity in itself — and told me to be strong. This wasn’t the end, just another opportunity. In his own way, he taught me to face adversity not with self-pity but head on and look for ways to grow, perhaps in a different direction.

In retrospect, it wasn’t much of a pep talk and definitely not one of those proverbial father-son moments … but at the time, it brought some sense to a 12 year old.

When Karen was diagnosed with cancer, he was there. When she died, he was there. A well placed word or sentence, like 50 years prior, brought some sense to a senseless world. After all, he was a veteran, taking care of my Mom, his wife of over 50 years. He knew what I was going through. He lived it first.

That’s on a human level. Of course, there is a Fatherly connection with God as well. When life throws curves — as it always does — our God is there. We may not see it at the time, but we can feel His presence as we struggle. He gives us hope or brings a special person into our lives to show us the way. There are countless times in my life when I … STOP

… felt that presence first hand. These are the moments that give me comfort.

Well, that’s what popped into this mind this week.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Tackle your most difficult task first – and the others will seem easier.